Carp starting, Figgins dropped to ninth in order

Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu is shaking things up a bit after his team’s dismal three-game sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels over the weekend.

Chone Figgins

The skipper has dropped second baseman Chone Figgins to ninth in the batting order for today’s 5:05 p.m. game at Texas, the first time the season’s big free-agent acquisition has been out of the No. 2 spot.

Figgins has been hitting a little better of late, but grounded into three crucial double plays on Friday and Saturday and then got ejected from Sunday’s game after grounding out in the second inning.

He’s batting .220 on the season, well below his career .291 average. By batting him ninth, Wakamatsu will have him hitting ahead of Ichiro now after the first inning, but getting fewer at-bats, which is something the skipper said just a week ago he wasn’t ready to do.